Bending Toward the Sun

After the death of her father and abandonment by her mother, 15-year-old Gracey and her sisters are forced to live on Chicago's south side all by themselves. They must grow up in a hurry while hiding their abandonment from the outside world. Little by little the neighborhood learns their secret and begins to chip in, but their plans soon begin to fall apart when the oldest sister gets pregnant.

Charlotte, the girls' mother, is busy running from guilt. The world would never understand how she could leave her own children, but in her mind she never deserved them in the first place. As time goes by, Charlotte finally comes to know God's love and realizes that she desperately wants to be a part of her daughters' lives. She goes back to Chicago only to find out that they've been shipped to Mississippi to live with their Grandmother. The question is: how will the girls receive her? Five women must fight through feelings of bitterness, rejection, and anger. Each must trudge along, step-by-step, until they come to a place where peace is embedded in God's unconditional love.